Former Aston Villa and Manchester United forward Dwight Yorke expects Darren Bent to leave Villa Park in the January transfer window, but believes there is still time for the striker to make an impact in Paul Lambert's side.

Bent was left out of the Aston Villa squad to face Arsenal at the weekend and must consider his career in the Midlands all but over if he is overlooked for the crucial clashes with Reading on Tuesday and QPR on Saturday.

The £18m striker, who has scored 22 goals in 52 appearances since joining the club from Sunderland in January 2010, has stated that he will not seek a move away from Villa in the new year, while Lambert has said that everything is "fine" between the pair.

But with Liverpool reportedly waiting in the wings to offer Bent an escape route with a loan offer at the start of 2013, Yorke, who played for Villa between 1989 and 1998, expects the striker to jump-start his career elsewhere.

"You want to be playing regular football," Yorke told Sky Sports News, before adding that the choices facing players had changed since he came to English football.

"There's a problem these days that players are on such huge wages, and if he's likely to move on, who is out there who is prepared to take a risk on him and give him the wages as well? Also, Darren Bent has got the luxury of staying there and trying to see his contract out."

But Yorke, who described himself as "Villa through and through", was disappointed that Bent had not managed to force his way into Lambert's side since the summer.

"Maybe if he has anything about himself he will try and make it happen and try to work his way back into the team," Yorke added.

"It's one of those situations that a player doesn't like to be in, but given the chance I'm sure he would probably like to move on and try and resurrect his career once again."